state of emergency!

the weather is so shit here in seattle that the governor has declared a state of emergency.  tons of snow, ice and downed power lines are creating havoc.  in normal places that get snow this would be no big deal, but here in seattle...CHAOS!

since it was just snowing yesterday and the buses were running,  i decided (foolishly) to go on in to work.  it took me 2 hours to get there and 3 to get home.  and i only stayed for 4 hours.  needless to say, i did not go in to work today.  instead i'm staying home with maya (so far this week she's spent a record breaking 2 hours in school and today is thursday) and the cats and the dog.  alistair had to work a thursday, which never happens.  but we live so close to his work that he just walked.

maya and i just went over to the store and took some shots on the way.

here's the view from the porch

and the porch itself!

the street in front of our house: 35th ave NE, a heavily used and major street in our neighborhood:

the neighbors across the street made some snowmen!!

safeway is up and running and has plowed their parking lot :)

the front yard:

my little tacky quail is all buried!

and the gnome water sprinkler looks pissed at all the snow.

all in all, i feel like i'm back in idaho.  except you can't get to work.  i was telling maya how in places where winter actually happens, this is no big deal.  SNOW DAY?  who ever had a snow day?

ok...i'm gonna go make some cookies now and kick it in front of the tv!

wooooooo!

canning trade...

a couple of weekends ago i got together with my friend sarah, who used to be my manager back in the day at barnes and noble.  sarah is awesome!  she's a totally fun girl who is into canning and cooking!  she also has her own blog, which she is much better keeping up with than i am with mine!

but i hadn't seen sarah in over 10 years since i quit b&n.  we've been friends on the facebooks and have kept in touch and we both thought that having a canning trade was a good way to get together for lunch, catch up and TRADE FOOD WE HAVE CANNED!  i just started canning this year, so i didn't have much of a selection to give her so i gave her 2 jars of marinated veggies (they're small jars!), a jar of blueberry jam and a jar of grapefruit blackberry honey jelly.

we both showed up at blue c sushi with gift bags of jars!

she gave me pear butter, rhubarb ginger jam and peach rosemary jam.

i had a great time at lunch and found out that sarah and i have lots more in common than i thought.  we'll be organizing a game night to get together and start learning how to play mah-jongg!  i'm so excited!  and about once a year i go to eat sushi at blue c.  i think it's such a funny way place to eat sushi.  it's one of those conveyor belt sushi places.

i decided i wanted to try the peach rosemary jam with some veggies on pork, so i baked the chops with the jam and sweet onions and tomatoes and put it on rice.  IT WAS DELICIOUS!  

sarah...you totally have to try your jam with some kind of meat.  it was such a good combination of sweet and savory!  you did a great job on the jam...i'm gonna have to make some next year!

i'm really looking forward to hanging out with sarah again for some photography or games!  YAY!  let winter begin!!